I found a striking similarity between James Joyce's "Eveline" and William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" concerning the stories' theme that it is often extremely difficult to escape a bad situation if it is the only situation one knows. In "A Rose for Emily," Miss Emily was unable to get over the deaths of her father and her lover and unable to escape the isolation which her father had imposed upon her. She had become so used to her isolation that she feared improving her life. Joyce's Eveline possesses a similar fear. She knows that her situation is not a desirable one; she acknowledges that unlike if she remained in her home, if she escaped with Frank, "people would treat her with respect then." Yet even despite this knowledge that her life is utterly miserable, she still thinks that "now that she [is] about to leave it she [does] not find it a wholly undesirable life." This conflict finally culminates as she remains on land, refusing to escape with Frank. Eveline is so afraid of abandoning her current life and self-imposed obligations that she forsakes her chance at freedom and happiness. Like Miss Emily, Eveline entraps herself in a rut to which there is no true escape.